Bolder Boulder

Benjamin Davis, founder of 211 Crew, sentenced to 108 years in prison

Under beefed-up court security, the reputed shot-caller for the white supremacist prison gang 211 Crew was sentenced on Wednesday to serve an additional 108 years in prison on a racketeering conviction.

Benjamin Davis, 38, was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 108 years in prison, and Wednesday's hearing reaffirmed the consecutive sentence following an appeal by Davis.

"The long and short of it Mr. Davis is you don't need to be on the streets in 40 or 50 years," District Judge William Robbins said before sentencing Davis. "Your prison sentence was supposed to rehabilitate the defendant. It apparently failed miserably."

Robbins told Davis he has endeavored to assault people both inside and outside of prison.

211 Crew founder Benjamin Davis. (Colorado Department of Corrections)

"He has developed no respect for the law or for his fellow human beings and has no regard for the sentence he was serving," Robbins said. "Nobody is safe from him, either people in the Department of Corrections or people walking on the street."

He added that Davis' 1995 sentence proved to be "absolutely no deterrence to crime for the defendant."

Davis, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and full-body chains, was already serving a 30-year prison term for robbery and first-degree assault. The judge ordered the new sentence to be served consecutively to the previous sentence.

Denver County deputy J.P. Hynes was handling chocolate labrador Taylor, "like Taylor Swift," he said. He was there along with 10 other county deputies because Davis' case is "high profile."

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Taylor is a bomb sniffing dog, Hynes added.

"That's it," Hynes said. "That's all she does."

A prosecutor, who asked that his name not be released, said Davis was convicted of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act with 13 supporting acts including conspiracy to commit four assaults on different people.

Davis' public defender Demetria Trujillo asked the judge to continue the hearing so that Davis could have witnesses testify on his behalf.

Davis, addressing the judge as your honor, mentioned that he hadn't killed anyone.

"I would ask that I be given a concurrent sentence," Davis said. "Maybe at some point some 40 or 50 years from now I would have a chance at parole if I'm still alive."

Judge Robbins denied the request for a continuance, saying the defendant had two months to arrange for witnesses to speak.

Trujillo responded that Davis has been in administrative segregation the past two weeks and has had no opportunity to contact witnesses because he didn't even know when his sentencing would be.

Davis was placed in administrative segregation at Buena Vista Correctional Complex after his name was published in connection to the murder investigation involving fellow 211 Crew member Evan Ebel, who was killed in a Texas shootout March 21.

Ebel is suspected of killing DOC chief Tom Clements at his Monument home on March 19 and Domino's pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon on March 17.

DOC officials have said they are investigating whether 211 Crew leaders ordered a hit on Clements.

Davis founded the 211 Crew in 1995 at Denver County Jail after claiming his jaw was broken by a black inmate.

Davis was charged with ordering beat downs and hits of gang members who stepped out of line or other inmates for various offenses.

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